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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26721604">Love Is A One-Eyed Monster</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/River9Noble/pseuds/River9Noble'>River9Noble</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Green-Eyed Monsters Rule the (Soul) World [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dick is 22, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No underage, Rape Aftermath, Romance, Tarantula's canonical rape of Dick, That's the only rape, dickstroke, sladick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:21:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26721604</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/River9Noble/pseuds/River9Noble</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick's a romantic at heart and plans to wait for his soulmate, no matter how long it takes, but Tarantula steals his virginity and Dick flees Gotham to deal with the crippling emotional aftermath. If only his AirBNB host hadn't been up to no good...</p><p>A Soulmates AU</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Green-Eyed Monsters Rule the (Soul) World [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944724</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bisexual Visibility, Queer Characters Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Is A One-Eyed Monster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This takes place in the same universe as "My Soulmate is a Green-Eyed Monster." It's not necessary to read that one first, but both of these stories will tie into an upcoming sequel. This particular story is a prequel set several years before "Green-Eyed Monster." Dick is around 22 years old here.</p><p>Trigger Warnings - Rape Aftermath, dealing with Tarantula's canonical rape of Nightwing. The rape itself is described a little bit, but not graphically.</p><p>Also, I cannot take credit for the Dickstroke ship name... I saw that recently on another fic and it is too good not to use XD</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dick wasn't asleep, so he heard the noise.</p><p>This was exactly why he didn't like the idea of AirBNB's. Sleeping in someone else's house while they supposedly weren't home - sure, what could go wrong?</p><p>If he hadn't needed to get away so badly that even a motel wouldn't do, Dick never would have been lying awake in a one-room cabin in the middle of Montana, listening to the subtle but sure sounds of a lock being picked.</p><p>And here he'd thought the worst threat he'd have to worry about out here in the wilderness was bears.</p><p>Dick kicked the covers off, thankful that he was wearing boxers, and slipped his hands under his pillow where his escrima sticks were hiding, getting a firm grip on each one just before the door started to open. He quickly shut his eyes most of the way, peering out under only one lid to watch the intruder's approach.</p><p>The cabin was blissfully off the grid which was one of its appeals, but that meant that there weren't any clocks or cable boxes or phone chargers providing ambient light as the shadowy figure approached.</p><p>Dick was planning to wait until they were within arm's reach as long as he didn't hear the telltale click of a safety being taken off, but suddenly a bright beam was shining in his face and a disturbingly familiar voice was saying, "What the fuck?"</p><p>"Robin, what the <em>hell </em>are you doing here?" his seriously pissed off and confused home invader growled at him, lowering the flashlight so it wasn't right in Dick's eyes which had jolted open and were staring across the dark room in amazement equal to that of his intruder, if the tone of their voice was anything to go by.</p><p>"What am <em>I </em>doing here?" Dick said, pulling his escrima sticks out as he sat up. "I'm on vacation. What the fuck are <em>you </em>doing here, Slade?"</p><p>"Being given the slip, apparently," Deathstroke the Terminator grumbled, shining his light around the small cabin. "Got a lamp?"</p><p>"There's a solar lamp that should be charged, yeah," Dick said, tossing his escrima sticks onto the mattress as he got up, since it didn't look like a fight was brewing.</p><p>He walked over to the small wooden dining table and turned the lamp on before turning around to give Deathstroke a suspicious look. The mercenary, for his part, looked more irritated than usual as he swept the room one more time with his eye, taking in the entirety of the log cabin which was little more than a crude kitchen and bed. </p><p>"You're here alone?" he asked Dick.</p><p>"Yeah," said Dick. "Vacation. Alone."</p><p>"Where's Collins?" Slade growled.</p><p>"Hell if I know," said Dick with a shrug. "He sent me the keycode when I made my reservation. That's kind of the point of AirBNB, Slade. Using somebody's home when they aren't."</p><p>"Well, fuck my life," Slade groaned. "You know how long of a drive this place is from the airport?"</p><p>"Uh, yeah," Dick said sarcastically. "I do."</p><p>Slade let out a long growl before starting to unstrap his gear, setting swords and guns down on the table.</p><p>"What are you doing, exactly?" Dick said, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>"Boy, you think I'm gonna turn around and drive back to civilization tonight, you got another think coming," Slade said as he continued to disarm. "What do you got to drink up here?"</p><p>"Vodka," Dick mumbled, not sure if he should be dismayed or relieved at the company.</p><p>He'd wanted to be alone. Hell, he'd needed to be alone. He couldn't think - couldn't process - couldn't stop his skin from crawling, or the nausea from climbing up his throat, and sometimes when his hands started shaking he couldn't get them to stop, and he kept spacing out only to jerk back to awareness gulping for air, his breaths coming too fast until sobs wracked his chest.</p><p>Bruce wouldn't understand. Bruce would blame him. Bruce wouldn't hear both sides. Bruce wouldn't think the worst part was even that big a deal. So Dick had bailed, fleeing Bludhaven with only an obscure text to Alfred saying that he was going on vacation and not to worry. The last thing Dick needed was Bruce following him, after all. Not that Bruce left Gotham, if he could help it.</p><p>But he must have heard, by now, what had happened. He must have heard and maybe he'd tried to call and that's why Dick had let his cellphone die, despite the very handy solar charger that Michael J. Collins, AirBNB host, had graciously provided as a cabin amenity.</p><p>"Vodka," Slade was saying though, giving Dick a strange look as the younger man went to grab one of the several bottles from the small kitchen counter, if a plank tacked on to some two by fours could be considered as such. </p><p>"Since when do you drink vodka?" Slade asked Dick, sitting down at the table in one of the equally homemade chairs and stretching his long legs out in front of him, crossing his steel-toed boots at the ankle.</p><p>"Since I was seven," Dick said shortly, setting the bottle down next to Slade. "I don't have juice so I hope you like it straight," he said.</p><p>"Seven years old and he drinks his vodka straight," Slade said with some amusement as he reached over to unscrew the cap and take a swig.</p><p>"I'm learning new things about you today, Robin," Slade said with a quirk of his gray eyebrow.</p><p>"Congratulations," Dick muttered with some bitterness, reaching out to take the bottle back and downing a hefty swallow.</p><p>"So tell me something," Slade said thoughtfully.</p><p>Dick ground his teeth. If Slade fucking asked him what he was -</p><p>"How'd you happen to start drinking pure vodka at age seven?" Slade said with a grin, his one blue eye twinkling in the dim light of the solar camping lamp while shadows danced across his eyepatch.</p><p>"Oh," Dick said with a start, relaxing a little bit in relief. "Nikolai Federova dared me to sneak a sip from his parents' stash in their trailer," Dick chuckled. "So naturally, after I almost died hacking that shit up, I dared him back."</p><p>"The joys of childhood," Slade mused with a slight smile.</p><p>"Yeah," Dick smiled fondly, thinking back to his life in the circus. "After that, it became a competition. Lose the race, and you have to take a sip of vodka. Fall on your dismount, and you have to take a sip."</p><p>"He was an acrobat, too?" Slade asked, sounding genuinely interested.</p><p>"Nikki was a trick rider, so yeah," Dick said. "He did tumbling and stunts on the horses. But," Dick suddenly giggled, "we both got so used to swigging sips of vodka that it wasn't really a punishment for the loser anymore, so we had to make it harder. See who could hold a sip in their mouth for the longest. And when that got too easy, who could gargle with it the longest."</p><p>"Boy, I'm surprised his parents didn't whup your asses for stealing their hooch," Slade chuckled.</p><p>"Eh, we never took that much at once," Dick grinned. "We were a couple of seven year old lightweights. We would've passed out drunk and gotten caught in no time if we'd copped more than a teaspoon or two."</p><p>"Sneaky even then," Slade grinned.</p><p>"Yeah," Dick muttered as his eyes started to glaze over.</p><p>
  <em>Sneaky Nightwing. Sneaking out of town. Sneaking away from Bruce. Sneaky sneak, sneaky sneak sneak sneak - Liar, killer, slut, poison, sneak -</em>
</p><p>"Kid!"</p><p>Deathstroke's grip was hard on Dick's shoulder as he shook him roughly and Dick couldn't understand why his eyes wouldn't focus until he realized they were wet with tears and oh, that strange sound in his ears was his sobs and dammit, his hands were shaking again, why did they keep shaking, and he'd thought he'd been sitting at the table so why was he curled up in a ball on the floor, and Slade's hand was firm on the back of his head.</p><p>"Robin. Look at me," Dick heard Slade order, but it sounded like Slade was so far away, why was he so far away, why had everyone been so far away, he'd been so alone, stupid to trust her, never should have trusted her, never should have walked away, stupid stupidstupidstupid -</p><p>The blow across his face hurt like hell.</p><p>Dick blinked, stunned.</p><p>"Need another one?" Slade growled at him.</p><p>Two owl-like blue eyes blinked back at him in confusion.</p><p>"That's a yes," Slade grunted, slapping the other side of his face just as hard.</p><p>"Fuck!" Dick yelled, jerking backwards with the intent of getting away from the asshole smacking him around, but Slade's iron grip on his shoulder wouldn't let him go.</p><p>"Get the hell off me!" Dick said, scrabbling his feet backwards now to try to get away as his pitch raised to a panic.</p><p>"Get off!" Dick screamed and Slade let him go, watching intently as Dick - not the Flying Grayson, not Nightwing, definitely not Robin, but Dick - scuttled backwards like a crab, putting distance between him and Slade in the most ineffectual way possible.</p><p>When his back hit the cast iron stove, Dick ran his bare arm over his wet eyes while he warily regarded Slade, chest heaving with anxiety rather than exertion. The mercenary, for his part, had a hint of concern in his eye, which was a look so unusual for Slade that Dick felt an icy shiver slide through his bones.</p><p>"Tell me what happened," Slade said quietly.</p><p>"No," Dick mumbled, picking at the edge of his boxers and looking anywhere but back at Slade.</p><p>"That wasn't a request, kid," Slade said with more steel in his voice.</p><p>"No!" Dick yelled back at him. "I'm not your goddamn apprentice anymore, Slade!" Dick snarled. "You don't get to give me orders."</p><p>"You think you can kick my ass, then, boy?" Slade said, rising to his feet. "You're so strong and mighty, you can hold your own against Deathstroke?"</p><p>"You know I can," Dick sulked, not taking his bait and refusing to stand up.</p><p>"You know I always hold back on you," Slade countered, taking the few steps across the cabin that he needed to get to Dick.</p><p>"I'm gonna give you one last chance to tell me who fucked you up so bad," Slade growled, bending his head down to Dick's eye level. "Or else I'm gonna beat the shit out of you and make you talk."</p><p>"Fuck you, Slade," Dick muttered.</p><p>"You asked for it," Slade shrugged, not even fully standing before snapping a vicious kick into Dick's arm.</p><p>"Ow! What the hell!" Dick yelped, using a little more force and speed to back away from Slade this time as the Terminator slowly advanced on him.</p><p>"You gonna get up and fight me, or are you gonna take the beating?" Slade asked him. "Your choice, kid," he said before hauling back and kicking Dick's thigh.</p><p>"Goddammit," Dick hissed as the sole of Slade's reinforced boot connected, but still making no effort to get up or defend himself.</p><p>"Fight me!" Slade yelled, hauling Dick to his feet by his hurt arm and punching him full in the ribs.</p><p>"Shit," Dick coughed but Slade was already throwing a punch into his other side and Dick finally, without conscious thought, threw a punch that landed on Slade's jaw.</p><p>"That's it, boy," Slade growled. "Fight me," he ordered, throwing another punch, and then Dick was fighting back with moves that quickly changed from defensive to enraged to frenzied, landing punch after punch on the mercenary with more emotion than skill as Dick's brain shorted out and the world went white.</p><p>If Dick had been paying more attention, he would have realized that Slade was holding back more than a little bit this time and letting Dick land his punches on purpose, but when the mercenary decided that the Boy Wonder had vented enough steam, he went back to pummeling him.</p><p>"Tell me what happened!" Slade ordered again as he threw Dick into the cabinets.</p><p>"Fuck you!" Dick yelled back, staggering to his feet only to meet Slade's fist.</p><p>"You'll tell me, boy, or I'll keep beating it out of you," Slade threatened, slamming another blow into Dick's side.</p><p>"God damn it!" Dick screamed. "No!"</p><p>Slade's only response was to haul Dick up and slam him up against the rounded logs of the cabin wall, cracking the back of his head on it with a force just shy of a concussion.</p><p>"Tell me," Slade growled, pinning Dick to the wall by a massive hand on his throat.</p><p>"Slade," Dick wheezed, grabbing at his wrist, but Slade had him up on his tiptoes and was using his own legs to keep Dick's trapped against the wall.</p><p>"Talk to me, boy," Slade snarled, and Dick wasn't going to, he wasn't.</p><p>Slade could choke him out for all he cared. Hell, Slade could kill him if he wanted and end this mess, because Dick's life was ruined anyway, and not just his life but his soulmate's, and it wasn't fair and Dick had said no and he didn't want it and he couldn't fight her because he was too weak, too stupid, too cowardly -</p><p>Black spots began to dance before his eyes and as Dick hazily looked into Slade's one blue eye, he was startled to see sorrowful compassion instead of aggression and it was too much and Dick was starting to cry again, but he couldn't breathe and he was wheezing and Slade was leaning forward even closer and whispering "Tell me, Robin," and Dick didn't know why he always felt so safe with Slade.</p><p>He shouldn't.</p><p>The bastard had blackmailed him into an apprenticeship back when he was a Teen Titan and tried to kill the Titans for years afterwards, and Slade almost always fought him when they crossed paths, but Deathstroke never actually tried to kill him, really, and half the time they were bantering with each other anyway in between blows, and once in a while Slade was just dropping by to say hi with a cup of coffee and telling him to lay off of his contract if he didn't want to get his ass kicked, and sometimes Dick even did stay out of his way, and Dick shouldn't trust him, he shouldn't, and he wasn't going to tell anybody, ever, what had happened, but when Slade gently murmured, "Little bird," the dam on Dick's tongue broke.</p><p>"Rape," he wheezed out with tears leaking out of his eyes.</p><p>"Who raped you?" Slade said quietly, easing the pressure off of Dick's throat only the slightest bit, but the pressure on Dick's heart that had been squeezing the life out of him for the last two days suddenly loosened.</p><p>"Catalina Flores," Dick rasped out, and then Slade's hand was gone and Dick was hiccuping and crying and being pulled into Slade's arms and wrapped up in those strong muscles and he was sobbing again, but without floating away this time, because Slade was holding him so tight that Dick couldn't go anywhere else.</p><p>And truthfully, he didn't want to.</p><p>"That's it, let it out, little bird," Slade was gently saying into Dick's hair as he held him and rocked him while Dick cried and snuggled himself even deeper into Slade's chest.</p><p>"I got you," Slade soothed.</p><p>"I didn't want it," Dick mumbled into Slade's shoulder some time later.</p><p>"I know," Slade murmured.</p><p>"I wanted to wait for my soulmate," Dick sniffed, and then a fresh round of sobs burst out of him as the pain of what he'd lost ripped through his chest.</p><p>"You always were a sweet kid," Slade said, continuing to rock him. "Too sweet for my world," Slade chuckled ruefully.</p><p>"Not so sweet," Dick growled though, pulling away. "I let her kill Blockbuster, Slade."</p><p>Slade sighed and ran a hand over his jaw.</p><p>"Kid," he said slowly, "you know it's kind of hard for me to be sympathetic about that part, right?"</p><p>Dick glared at him before turning away, hurt.</p><p>"Hey," Slade said more gently, laying a hand back on Dick's shoulder from behind. "Tell me what happened."</p><p>"Why?" Dick growled. "You don't care."</p><p>"That's where you're wrong, kid," Slade said quietly, causing Dick to turn back to look at him.</p><p>Whatever he saw in Slade's eyes must have been enough, because Dick heaved out a sigh and ran both hands through his dark hair.</p><p>"Fine," he muttered, crossing back over to the table and taking another drink of vodka before sitting.</p><p>"Blockbuster figured out my identity," Dick said as Slade took the seat across from him. "He threatened everyone I knew. I didn't know what to do, Slade, and Catalina was there and told me to walk away, that she'd kill him for me. I shouldn't have - I shouldn't -"</p><p>"You did what you had to do," Slade said.</p><p>"I don't know," Dick mumbled.</p><p>"What other option was there, kid?" Slade said pragmatically. "I'd say it was a mercy you didn't have to kill him yourself, but I guess not…?"</p><p>Dick gritted his teeth and willed himself not to cry again.</p><p>"I freaked out after she shot him," Dick said. "I couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. I collapsed on the roof. All I could think was I failed Bruce, I failed Catalina, I failed myself. I told her not to touch me. I told her -" he cut himself off with a sharp breath.</p><p>Slade gave a low growl.</p><p>"I'm sorry, kid," he said sincerely. "You of all people didn't deserve that."</p><p>"Why me 'of all people'?" Dick said hollowly, but Slade didn't answer.</p><p>Dick sighed and leaned his head forward into his hands, propping his elbows up on the table.</p><p>"Soulmates are such a big deal," he said.</p><p>"To some people," Slade said, taking another drink of vodka.</p><p>"To all people," Dick laughed mirthlessly.</p><p>"To society, I'll give you that," Slade said thoughtfully. "But to individuals? I'd say it depends. Personally, I couldn't give a shit."</p><p>"Yeah, well, I do," Dick said miserably. "I was gonna wait."</p><p>"Ain't nothin' wrong with that, little bird," Slade said. "If it's important to you, it's important."</p><p>"Yeah, well, that's ruined now," Dick muttered. "How are they gonna feel, that I fucked somebody else?" he said, wiping his eyes. "I didn't get my soulmate when I turned twenty-one so that means they're younger than me. How's some twenty-one year old gonna feel one day that their soulmate couldn't be bothered to wait?"</p><p>"Look, kid," Deathstroke said, "you didn't fuck somebody else. They raped you and took away your choice to wait. Seems to me if someone is actually your soulmate, they ought to understand that."</p><p>Dick was silent.</p><p>"I know that don't change what you lost, though," Slade said more gently, pushing the bottle back towards him.</p><p>"Nice is a strange look on you," Dick commented as he took it, his eyes starting to twinkle a little bit.</p><p>"Brat," Slade said affectionately.</p><p>"Boomer," Dick said back, finally letting out a tired chuckle.</p><p>"What are you actually doing here, though?" Dick said before taking another drink.</p><p>"Contract on Collins," Slade shrugged. "Guy was living off-grid for a reason," he smirked before frowning in disgust.</p><p>"He's never put this place on AirBNB before," he growled. "He must've got tipped off and run and figured he'd make a buck in the meantime."</p><p>"So now you got more work to do," Dick observed.</p><p>"Now I'm gonna kill him twice as slow for pissing me off," Slade laughed and it was only the vodka that made Dick laugh, too.</p><p>"I guess I can extend my stay, then," Dick said after a minute. "Since my host won't be coming back," he snickered.</p><p>Slade snorted.</p><p>"You're drunk, Robin," he said.</p><p>"Maybe," Dick said easily, kicking his bare feet up onto the table and taking another drink. "But I like it here. It's not like Gotham or Bludhaven. It's peaceful."</p><p>"Until the assassin shows up," Slade winked.</p><p>"Still peaceful," Dick said, giving him a soft smile that hit a lot harder than any of his punches and made Slade's breath catch in his throat.</p><p>"You like the place that much, maybe I'll buy it after I kill Collins," Slade said after a minute of utter stillness.</p><p>"Really?" Dick said, his smile getting brighter.</p><p>"Sure," Slade shrugged, trying to pretend that the warmth in his belly was from the alcohol.</p><p>"Never hurts to have another safe house and this one's all set up with the solar tech. Just needs some extra supplies," he said, glancing around the sparse room. "We could dig out a storage cellar."</p><p>"Yeah," Dick said, wondering why that idea felt as snuggly as a warm blanket. "We could totally do that."</p><p>"It's a plan, then," Slade said, unable to keep the little curl off the corner of his lips.</p><p>"Mkay," Dick said, starting to get sleepy from the booze, which, sadly, his seven-year-old's tolerance had not prepared him to handle in the quantities which he was drinking tonight.</p><p>"Go to bed," Slade said. "I'll be here when you wake up."</p><p>"Ok," Dick mumbled, not moving.</p><p>"Come on, kid," Slade laughed, standing and pulling Dick to his feet.</p><p>"You hit me really hard, you know," Dick whined at him as Slade propelled him towards bed.</p><p>"I know," Slade smirked. "Bet you're gonna have some nasty bruises tomorrow."</p><p>"Thank you," Dick blurted out, turning around and suddenly wrapping his arms back around Slade's chest with more tenderness this time than need.</p><p>"Anytime, kid," Slade said in a voice that was rougher than normal as he hugged Dick back.</p><p>"Where are you gonna sleep?" Dick said when Slade gently pushed him back towards the only bed in the cabin.</p><p>"In a chair or on the floor," Slade said easily. "I'll be fine."</p><p>"No, you can share the bed," Dick said with a pleading look in his eyes that Slade tried to tell himself was only the vodka talking.</p><p>"Kid," Slade said, running a hand through his gray locks, "I don't think sharing a bed after being raped is gonna help you feel safe."</p><p>"I think sharing a bed with Deathstroke will make me feel completely safe," Dick argued with a sassy smile. "Nobody's gonna rape me when Deathstroke is right there protecting me."</p><p>Slade snorted.</p><p>"I can protect you just fine from the floor," he said.</p><p>"Please, Slade?" Dick said softly, looking more vulnerable. "I've hardly slept the last two days and when I do I have nightmares," he mumbled, looking down.</p><p>Slade sighed.</p><p>"You sure it won't freak you out?" he asked him.</p><p>"As long as you don't spoon me," Dick giggled.</p><p>"You little brat," Slade said with not an ounce of irritation. "As if I'd want to," he lied.</p><p>"So we're good then," Dick said peacefully, finally climbing into the queen-sized bed and scooting over to the wall to make room for Slade.</p><p>"Sure, kid, we're good," Slade said gently as Dick's eyes shut.</p><p>When the mercenary climbed into bed after stripping down to his boxers, Dick was already asleep. Slade, however, lay awake for far too long, lying on his side and watching his little bird in the moonlight.</p>
<hr/><p>The kid had been right about the nightmares.</p><p>Slade woke in their shared bed to Dick thrashing in his sleep and crying 'No' in a voice so heartbroken that it twisted Slade's gut worse than the knife that Brutale had once put there.</p><p>"Kid," Slade said, shaking Dick's shoulder. "Kid. <em>Robin.</em>"</p><p>Dick startled awake, trembling, his ragged breathing quickly turning to sobs.</p><p>"Hey, hey, you're awake now," Slade said somewhat awkwardly, helping to pull his one-time apprentice to a sitting position in the bed.</p><p>Before Slade could pull his hands away, Dick had swiveled his body and wrapped his arms around Slade's bare chest, crying into his pecs now and clinging to Slade like he was - well, like he was something that Slade would have gladly said yes to before the kid's horrific revelation last night.</p><p>Now? Slade didn't know quite what to do with that, so he settled for hugging the kid back and stroking the back of his head while he cried.</p><p>Sometime later, when Dick had quieted down while remaining cozily curled into Slade's arms, he looked up at the mercenary through the moonlight filtering through the uncurtained window and said, "Can I tell you something stupid?"</p><p>"Sure, kid," Slade chuckled.</p><p>"I cried on my twenty-first birthday," Dick said softly.</p><p>"Because you didn't get your soulmate?" Slade said.</p><p>"Not exactly," Dick mumbled, dropping his eyes and getting a little shy, despite being the one to initiate the conversation.</p><p>Slade waited patiently until Dick said, "I cried because I kind of thought - I was hoping - I just figured it was gonna be you."</p><p>"Kid," Slade breathed out in surprise, involuntarily tightening his arms around him.</p><p>"Stupid, right?" Dick muttered, still looking down.</p><p>"Sure," Slade said when he found his voice again. "Just as stupid as an old man sitting up til midnight one year despite thinking that soulmates are a load of crap the universe uses to fuck around with us."</p><p>"Really?" Dick said in a threadbare voice, lifting his eyes back up to Slade's, and despite the shadowy moonlight, Slade could see the hope filling his little bird's eyes.</p><p>"Yeah, kid. Really," Slade said with a sigh, allowing one of his hands that was holding Dick to move and caress his shoulder the tiniest bit.</p><p>"I guess I'm doubly unlucky, then," Dick said miserably.</p><p>"Says who?" Slade asked him seriously.</p><p>"Well - it's not like we can be together if we're not soulmates," Dick said as if that was the most obvious statement in the world.</p><p>"Why the hell not?" Slade said, a small smile beginning to curl up his lips.</p><p>"Slade!" Dick said, rearing back from his arms very slightly.</p><p>"To not be available for your soulmate when they age up - that's almost as bad as being a murderer!" Dick gasped.</p><p>"Bullshit," said Slade. "Who the fuck says we have to live by society's rules? Huh? You think I'm gonna let some stupidass mark on my hip dictate my life's choices?"</p><p>"It's not that," Dick argued. "Who is your soulmate going to be with, if not you? Yeah, some people sleep around if they go for years being unmarked, but they don't fall in love."</p><p>"You sure about that?" Slade laughed cynically.</p><p>Dick shook his head in frustration.</p><p>"Nobody will ever marry somebody who's marked for someone else. They won't even date them seriously and whether they fall in love or not, they're going to leave them when they finally get their soulmate. That's just the way things are."</p><p>"Doesn't have to be," Slade said calmly. "If more people would call bullshit on the whole soulmate social structure, people could love and marry whoever the fuck they want."</p><p>"Yeah, but society isn't going to change all at once just because two people call bullshit," Dick said. "My soulmate will be alone and abandoned if I - if we - "</p><p>He broke off suddenly, looking guilty and uncomfortable. Slade moved his hand from Dick's back to his chin and tipped his eyes back up to look into his own piercing blue one.</p><p>"First of all, kid," Slade said, "there's plenty of other people your soulmate could be with. Soulmates die all the time and there's a whole lonely hearts club of unattached soulmarkeds out there."</p><p>Dick was silent.</p><p>"Second of all," Slade continued, "do you think your soulmate's gonna want a partner who's in love with someone else?"</p><p>Dick blushed.</p><p>"I didn't say I was in love with you," he mumbled.</p><p>"Uh huh," Slade responded with great amusement.</p><p>"Shut up," Dick grumbled with a smile into Slade's rumbling chest that a pair of muscular arms were pulling him tighter into.</p><p>"It's ok, little bird," Slade said affectionately. "I love you, too."</p><p>"Really?" Dick said, his head flying up in shock.</p><p>"Unfortunately," Slade grinned. "Why do you think I keep letting you live when you're such a brat?"</p><p>"Huh," Dick said, settling down more cozily again into Slade's embrace. "I guess I thought your skills were slipping in your old age."</p><p>"You little turd," Slade growled with mock menace, making Dick giggle.</p><p>And Slade didn't want to admit how good it felt to hear the kid laugh instead of cry. When Dick started to drift off in his arms, Slade began to shift them around.</p><p>"Lie down and go back to sleep," he ordered. "You'll be more comfortable."</p><p>"I was lying about not wanting you to spoon me," Dick mumbled as he scooted back down on the bed.</p><p>"Me, too," Slade grinned. "But that's all I'm gonna do for the foreseeable future," he said, serious all of a sudden. "You're in no shape to be making decisions right now about sex or love or soulmates or anything else, ok, little bird?"</p><p>"Ok," Dick murmured sleepily as he rolled onto his side.</p><p>He sighed with contentment as Slade scooted up against him and molded their bodies together, wrapping a strong arm around his waist.</p><p>"I do love you, though," Dick murmured. "I just wish you were my soulmate."</p><p>"It'll work out, kid," Slade reassured him in his ear as he nestled Dick closer to him. "You don't need to worry about it right now."</p><p>"Mkay," Dick mumbled, fading out to sleep again.</p><p>This time, Slade fell asleep easily, too, tucking his chin onto his Robin's shoulder and holding him safe in his arms.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Comments are much appreciated. </p><p>Sladick’s story continues in the ongoing sequel, “Fate is a Green-Eyed Monster,” which also focuses on the hinted-at JayCass relationship in "My Soulmate is a Green-Eyed Monster," plus gives the TimKon backstory. (Note - Cass is not Bruce's kid or part of the Batfam, if that is a trigger for anyone.)</p><p>You can follow me on Tumblr as @River9Noble. Come say hi!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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